Malloy Pushes $516 Million Jobs Plan

Connecticut Gov. Dannel Malloy released the much-anticipated details of a $516 million jobs package that will be considered in a special legislative session next week.

The Oct. 26 session is part of a continued effort by Connecticut lawmakers to make amends with the state’s business community, as The Journal reported earlier this week. Malloy’s plan, released Thursday, calls for reducing red tape faced by businesses, helping small companies and luring jobs to a state that hasn’t added a net new job in two decades.

A separate deal up for approval during the session would also authorize $291 million in state funding to build a new $1.1 billion genetics research center for Maine-based nonprofit Jackson Laboratory. That proposal also includes a $192 million construction loan forgivable after 10 years and $99 million in state grants.

In return, Jackson Labs would have to bring 300 new jobs to the University of Connecticut Health Center’s Farmington campus.

Malloy’s staff and lawmakers held public hearings Thursday to explain the details of the jobs plan, which includes $180 million over the next two years to support small business growth and $340 million to replenish the state’s Manufacturing Reinvestment Account, which provides loans and financing to businesses for job retention or expansion.

It also would authorize $20 million to identify, remediate and market five state-owned Brownfield’s and another $20 million for two years to expand manufacturing programs into community colleges and the state-run vocational schools.

A representative for Jackson Laboratory also held an informational hearing to discuss the proposed genetics research center, which has come under criticism for not generating enough jobs in exchange for the state’s $291 investment